President Mauricio Macri said Monday that he will repatriate $1.3 million in savings from the Bahamas and use the money to buy Argentine treasury bonds because he is confident the struggling economy will recover and thrive.

Macri said the money was deposited in Merrill Lynch accounts in Switzerland and the U.S., but it was transferred to the Bahamas after Swiss private bank Julius Baer Group bought the Merrill Lynch overseas wealth management unit from Bank of America.

Macri, who was Buenos Aires mayor, won the presidency last year on a promise to jumpstart Argentina's economy and root out endemic corruption.

He recently set up a blind trust to handle his financial holdings in response to criticism over his role in two offshore companies that emerged in the Panama Papers leak. Macri, the son of one of Argentina's wealthiest families, said the companies were family businesses and he was a figurehead without compensation.

A federal prosecutor has requested authorization to investigate whether Macri maliciously omitted his role in the offshore companies in his annual tax declarations. Macri said he is open to being investigated and has nothing to hide.

Top Comments

No, it's not positively bizarre nor humorous topic but a tragedy for electors who sincerely believed Macri's promises of transparency, honesty and eradication of corruption.
In less than six months, the new president has demonstrated that truth is a flexible thing that can be twisted at leisure.
When the Panama Papers first came out, Macri said an off-shore company he was listed on had never been active--which was later disproved.
Macri is now under investigation after his recent financial disclosure showed 100 per cent increase in just one year: His net worth in 2015 was 110 million pesos--that of 2014 showed 52 million.
He said he had declared his shares with a zero nominal value under Buenos Aires' disclosure rules but that federal rules forced him to disclose their value.
However, on Point 9 of his declaration, Macri stated that the difference in value of goods from the first and the last day of the year was zero.
Sad indeed.